Fully funded opportunity for bachelors and masters students to come work at MPIA in summer 2026!

Got a wonderful gift from a former postdoc today! A terrarium based on The forest moon of Endor complete with its own little Ewok & R2D2 😁 The tank was previously used on BBC The Sky at Night to demonstrate optical depth in a planetary atmosphere. A happy repurposing & joyful addition to my office

Doing some filming for a potential project this morning. I always get so nervous before filming things. The more prep for something there is the more nervous I become. Very much more comfortable with the hit and hope method. But nevertheless here we go!

As ever, we'll be doing a foodbank collection at Nine Lessons this year. The list of most urgently needed items are at cosmicshambles.com/ninelessons CC @robinince.bsky.social, @soozuk.bsky.social, @nataliehaynes.bsky.social, @seismatters.bsky.social, @profaliceroberts.bsky.social

Next Thursday night is the first night of Nine Lessons 2025. It's also when we will announce the secret project we've been working on for the last four years. Make sure you're in your seats by 7! www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/nin...

Work from @danvalentine.bsky.social !

🪐 The #ExoMars team at the University has welcomed the UK Space Agency’s renewed backing for the Rosalind Franklin rover mission, a flagship project that will see Europe’s first Mars rover launch in 2028. 🖱️ tinyurl.com/d3m5ysah @esa.int @ukspaceagency.bsky.social @abercompsci.bsky.social

Goes with their long proud tradition of running red lights

At the wonderful venue of the Balmoral ship docked in Bristol Quay to preset to the Bristol Science Cafe. A great team of volunteers on the ship and the science cafes lead Bob who has been running this for over 2 decades bring science to Bristolian life. #exoplanets #scicomm

This weekend we headed to London for the world premiere of @robertlaidlow.bsky.social’s #Exoplanet suite. The London Philharmonic Orchestra were on fine form bring the amazing worlds we study to life. So grateful to have been a tiny part of the journey. Check out Rob describing the piece 👇 #sciart

Check out this awesome talk by @danvalentine.bsky.social all about his research showing how the @esa.int Ariel mission could perform the most extraordinary phase curve survey to teach us all about #exoplanets #proudAdvisor #astronomy #science

In this video I explain how @stellarplanet.bsky.social and @climatebook.bsky.social research into these classes of planets inspired and informed some of the music. The concert premiere of "Exoplanets" is at 7.30pm on Saturday 29th November at the Royal Festival Hall in London - tickets here:

Holst's planets suite may have its famous "Jupiter" and "Neptune", but my new "Exoplanets" for @lporchestra.bsky.social has HOT Jupiters and SUB Neptunes 🪐🪐🪐 (Saturday 29th at 7.30pm!) youtu.be/kXi3TbD4_VA?...

CDT in Aerosol Science is welcoming applications for fully-funded PhD studentships as part of our 8th cohort to start in autumn 2026: www.aerosol-cdt.ac.uk/2026-projects/ Aerosol science is crucial to so many things, check out the linked project catalogue for studentships! #PhD #academicjobs

Had a fabulous week at Ringberg for the “Signal in the Noise“ workshop hosted by two brilliant ECRs in the #exoplanet field @eahrer.bsky.social & @lili-alderson.bsky.social. Loads of ideas on how to get the most out of #jwst data & many new collaborations formed across an eager cohort of scientists

We have snow in Ringberg! ❄️🏰❄️ the sky has fallen, wonderful rainout of the atmosphere followed by a clearing and lowered opacity.

Beautiful lessons in opacity from normal versus slant geometries from the plane as I left Abu Dhabi, some beautiful cloud formations over the Iranian mountains, and beautiful sunset over Romania

Had a great time @nyuad-oaa.bsky.social and an interesting time adventuring in the Abu Dhabi 🐪. Now time to head to Germany for the “signal in the noise” conference led by @lili-alderson.bsky.social and @eahrer.bsky.social held at Ringberg Castle 🏰

Londoners! Drink excellent wine and chat with me about space, next week: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cosmology-...

Given news of recent days and the way the entire landscape of broadcasting and production is going in the UK right now, we are even more excited to tell about what we've been up to. All will be revealed Dec 18 one night one of Nine Lessons. cosmicshambles.com/ninelessons

Got my foundation tutorial group this morning (we’re onto Mechanic and angular momentum) then down to the coach station to head to T4 for a flight to Abu Dhabi to give a talk @nyuad-oaa.bsky.social and chat about #exoplanet science for a few days! Exhausted thinking about it but excited as well 😎🤓

What the US government is doing to Goddard Space Flight Center is devastating. GSFC is the largest science center at NASAs disposal. It is home of Hubble operations, I was lucky enough to see JWST, Osiris-Rex &Roman built there. This destruction will gut US &global space science for decades to come

Very sad that I will not be able to perform for nine lessons this year in Cardiff. @cosmicshambles.com do this for the love of sharing science, art, & stories & make no money personally. If you like things like that buy tickets to support local events and help maintain the joy of spreading stories.

On a bus back to Oxford after a great time talking at Wantage Literary Festival. Anyone want to #askanastronomer anything? 🔭

Are you a grad student interested in writing for Astrobites, or do you know one? We're recruiting! Apply by November 26 :) astrobites.org/2025/10/31/a...

Super excited to be joining the @cosmicshambles.com crew again for their Nine Lessons show. This year, by popular demand, in Cardiff! Get your tickets now 🎫 for December 9th www.glee.co.uk/performer/ni...

People have asked us for ages to bring Nine Lessons to Cardiff so we're slated to be there on Dec 9th this year! That is, if all of you who begged us to bring the show there buy tickets coz it's not looking great right now... @robinince.bsky.social @garwboy.bsky.social www.glee.co.uk/performer/ni...

For #JWST Cycle 5, proposals should be submitted even if observations appear non-schedulable in APT due to guide star availability in bright crowded fields. Get the details: ow.ly/qlTG50X8LK8

It is that time of year when these damn pandas plague us all! #JWSTC5 #exoplanets

London! Next Friday! The Universe WILL end in the company of @astrokatie.com, Steve Pretty, many musicians and myself. Do please come join us wegottickets.com/event/676292

As a theoretical cosmologist, I'm frequently asked "what is the benefit of the work you're doing for people's lives?" Nothing I work on makes money or cures disease. There are a few different answers one can give, at various levels of "convincing" / "actually relevant to why the work is done." 1/🧵

Thirty years ago Monday, astronomers announced the first planet around a Sunlike star. Since then they have cataloged more than 6,000 alien worlds. I asked a bunch of astronomers what their favorite exoplanet is, and wrote about it for @nature.com. What's yours? 🧪 #astronomy

UT Austin Astro is hiring! It's an open call, but definitely interested in getting another exoplanet person! Feel free to reach out with any questions about the department or living in Austin! aas.org/jobregister/...

Today feels like a good time to announce ten new special guests for this year's Nine Lessons shows including @particleclara.bsky.social, @mariaviolaris.bsky.social, @mrsamsee.bsky.social, @stellarplanet.bsky.social, @akshatrathi.bsky.social, John Hegly and more! Tix cosmicshambles.com/ninelessons

This year we've been really swinging for the fences. Our latest video is our biggest one yet, nearly an hour long and involving half a dozen experts. Asking "Should lying about climate change be illegal?" and, if so, how do we make it so? youtu.be/FKtCuwfUCJg

A proud part of the ~12% even though schools not that long ago tried to force it out of me. Data always requires careful and measured interpretation.

Did you miss last week's Deep Space Dialogues with STScI's Nestor Espinoza, as he chatted about atmospheres of distant exoplanets? Watch it now and learn about how #NASAWebb is dramatically changing our understanding of planetary systems in the cosmos. 🔭 🧪

I'm looking for a part-time research assistant to help research and fact-check long form YouTube videos, with an emphasis on climate misinformation campaigns. If you or someone you know would be a good fit, please check out this form! Applications close on 26/9. forms.gle/mpyzcdjwv63C...

✨✨✨Another Virga advert✨✨✨ Introducing V2.0, with fractal aggregate clouds! Restricted to spheres no more! We handle the dynamics and the optics self consistently. Led by me and PhD candidate extraordinaire Matt Lodge (who is looking for a postdoc 👀 and is amazing). arxiv.org/abs/2509.06708

Happy Publication Day to The Whispers of Rock! A journey that started with the Nan Shepherd Prize to this epic work that reframes our relationship with rock. Link to buy: anjanakhatwa.com/writing #rockwhisperer #WhispersOfRock #naturwriting

There's a decent chance of seeing the aurora tonight - it may be visible as far south as the Midlands (perhaps even further south) 🌃

A beautiful depiction of planet formation

It has been ten years since my PhD now officially marked with a new passport 🛂 taking it for a test drive to the US of A. See you in a week.

I'm very excited to be able to share Yayaati Chachan's Hubble/WFC3 transit spectrum of ultra-hot Jupiter KELT-20b. Using *all* of WFC3's grisms, we get a 0.2-1.7 micron spectrum showing absorption by metals at in the UV and only weak absorption by water in the IR. 🔭🪐

Published in #MNRAS: "Lightning activity on a tidally locked terrestrial exoplanet in storm-resolving simulations for a range of surface pressures", Sergeev et al. This is Fig. 4: to read the paper please visit academic.oup.com/mnras/articl... @oxfordacademic.bsky.social @royalastrosoc.bsky.social

I do my best writing early in the morning before getting out of my pajamas. I don’t know why I try to force it any other way to much stress and inefficiency.

Yes, high spectral resolution in space is surely the future for exoplanets. It doesn't even need to be that "high" res, JWST's R=2,700 is delivering great science, just think what could be done with a R=3,000-5,000 integral field spectrograph behind a coronagraph on HWO 🤯

If you want know all things #HabitableWorldsObservatory then follow @drjovian.bsky.social for the next two days as she posts from the #HWO25 meeting in Washington DC. Thanks Jo for keeping us posted ☺️

Our new Faraday Discovery Fellowships Accelerated International Route provides a fast-track option for international mid-career researchers looking to relocate to the UK, providing up to £4m over a five-year period. Find out more: #RSGrants royalsociety.org/grants/farad...

I love telling this story in the Tyndall lecture theater at Bristol and getting the students to help with repeating the same experiment she did. #EnvironmentalPhysics